Brian "pb" Brijbag

For today.

The word Relevant means “Logically connected with and important to the matter in hand; appropriate, germane, pertinent.”

To some the Word of God and the Church of Jesus Christ do not always seem “Logically connected” or “important to the matter in hand.” They may be logical to the believer, but not to the unbeliever.

 In the January, 1966 edition of an American journal called The Christian Century, the editor wrote of receiving a small “assemble it yourself” package by mail. After spending an hour in frustration trying to put the pieces together, he discovered in the box a message from the manufacturer. Printed on a neat, white card were the words, “If all else fails, follow the directions.”
Most in our generation today are puzzled, bewildered and confused, not knowing the way to worthwhile living. Now comes the question, “Whose directions are we to follow?”

 Any church that is founded upon the sound teaching of the Word of God is as relevant today as the Bible is. The church is a place where we learn

 1) What God’s Word says

2) How to appropriate those biblical principles in our lives.
The problem today is that most come to church for the music, rather than the message. We’ve become more concerned about programs than we are about progress in our spiritual lives. We welcome comfort and convenience, rather than conviction and confession. People would rather have their “ears tickles”, than to be confronted with the truth of the Scriptures.

 The problem lies not in the Content of the Word of God, but in the Complacency of our society.
When the Holy Spirit begins to convict of sin, they start looking for another, more compassionate church to attend… usually a place with a watered down message.

 When it comes to communicating God’s Word, my prayer is two-fold:

 1) That we will always speak the truth in love

2) That we will always speak the truth!

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55:6-11Isaiah 55:6-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
6 Seek you Yahweh while he may be found; call you on him while he is near: ⁷ let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; ¹¹ so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Interview with Mayday Parade

Interview with Mayday Parade:

 

PB:  Thanks for speaking with Fire Escape Radio today! Let’s start by talking about the song “Jamie All Over.”

 Alex:  This song is just about literally having a dream about really positive things, going out, having fun, going out to Las Vegas, California, that whole manifest destiny thing, wanting to find something better than what you’re around and spending your time with somebody else, but really it turns out to just be a dream.  So, keep dreaming kids.

 PB:  How about the song “Jersey?”

 Alex:  This song is just about having a significant other that you think is being unfaithful to you and messing around with other people. This is just the feelings that we got when that happened and the feelings that we wanted to express about that.  

 Jeremy:  We actually wrote this song while we were in New Jersey, sitting on the sidewalk.

 Alex:  Yeah, we were on tour.  This was written during one of our first tours.  Actually, a lot of our songs were, so that’s why there’s a lot of references to states and cities and stuff, because this was our first real experience touring.  It was weird, being out of town and the relationships back home, you could see them and sometimes things weren’t going so well, and there’s not much that you can do about it being 3,000g 3,000
English: World English Bible - WEB
Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

miles away from home, or whatever.

 PB:  Tell me about the song “You Be the Anchor that Keeps My Feet On the Ground, I’ll Be the Wings that Keep Your Head in the Clouds.”

 Alex:  This song is sort of like a story about a guy that’s on a battleship in Pearl Harbor and he’s writing home for the last time, and just about the feelings that he has that he possibly might not see his girlfriend or wife, Eleanor, ever again.  And so it’s just his reflections on that and how he feels.

 PB:  What’s going on with Mayday Parade right now?

 Alex:  Right now we’re on Warped Tour, and after this we’re going to start writing for the next album, right after this.  Then in the fall we do a tour with All-Time Low, The Main, and Every Avenue.  As soon as that’s done, we’re going to start heavily writing, and trying to record our next album.

 Jeremy:  Which should be out some time next summer, so look forward to it.

 PB: Thanks again for the time guys!

Transcript of Interview with Remedy Drive

PB:  Tell me about your new CD.

 

David:  It comes out August 26.  We’ve been in the band for four years.  We just signed with Word Records, so this is going to be our first nationally-distributed CD.  It’s going to be called “Daylight is Coming.”  It was produced by Ian Eskelin.  The first song is called “Daylight.”  The song is about, sometimes we forget that there’s going to be trials, there’s going to be struggles, there’s going to be a lot of difficulty in life.  I don’t think that anybody actually forgets that but sometimes, in art, it gets left out.  So it’s the darkest night that precedes the morning.  You know, it always gets the darkest, it always gets the coldest, right before the morning.  Whatever you’re going through, whatever I’m going through, whatever seems impossible, it seems empty, it seems hopeless – just remember, the sky’s going to rip open like a scroll some day.  That’s what I read.  And there’s something real, something permanent, something substantial.  This flesh and blood, this skin and bones, it’s only a rough draft, like C.S. Lewis says.  There’s something real coming.  Daylight’s coming.

 

PB:  On this CD, what are we going to hear musically?

 

David:  We’re a piano band.  I play piano out front.  Paul plays some great guitars. 

 

Paul:  I try to make it really sound like a symphony, is my goal.  I like to make it sound like a violin.

 

David:  It sounds like an organ and a symphony all at the same time.  One guy.

 

Paul:  That’s my goal.  I love the lay pedal.  I think our sound is just a lot of harmonies, a lot of great drum beats, bass parts, just everything.

 

David:  We teamed up with a guy named Ian Eskelin.  He does a great job of capturing great sounds, all the tones.  We had a really good time in the studio finding really interesting tones.  For the first time, I recorded using an overdrive pedal on the bass, and now I use it all the time.  So we had a really good time experimenting. 

 

PB:  What’s God doing in your lives right now?

 

David: God, when He created me, made me a little more clumsy than I should have been, I think.  I went to give this kid a high-five and stabbed him in the eye with my thumb.  Which keeps me humble.  But what we love about playing music is, you’re playing a song, like “Daylight,” it’s brand new, and seeing a kid in the front row, straining to figure out what’s being said, and singing along.  But then singing from the other album, singing word for word what we’re singing about, and knowing that that song’s playing in some kid’s car, and living rooms and bedrooms and cars and iPods all across the country.  It’s pretty humbling, it’s pretty fun at the same time.  We get a lot of e-mails, we get a lot of people saying, “hey that impacted me at this particular moment.”  I can’t think of any specific things, but kids saying, “hey, I was going through this, and those words impacted me.”  That’s what’s great about using the words that made the heavens and the earth, that put the stars in the sky.  Using those words as influence.  There’s still an impact there, I don’t know how it works that when God speaks, light comes on and matter is called into existence from nothing.  Hopefully these songs are asking questions, pointing to hope.  We don’t have the answers, I’m a broken individual. I’m disillusioned, I’m empty as the next guy, but knowing there is hope in the fact that we can have a brand new heart, and pointing kids that way. 

 

Dan:  I think, during our shows, we try to create just an excitement.  We want, when people come to our shows, we want them to feel like they’re part of something.  Just something crazy, we want them to be kind of scared when they’re up front, think that they’re going to get hit with a guitar or something.  I just think, a rock show is such a cool place for a group of people to get together and just be a family for an hour or two.  Just enjoying themselves. 

 

David:  Jon Foreman said, sweating the same sweat, bleeding the same blood, singing out the same song.  And then realizing that, as much as this is about a rock concert, it’s not.  It’s not about rock music, it’s not about success, it’s not about record labels, it’s not about SUVs, and suburban dreams and picket fences and mortgages.  It’s about a kingdom coming.  And somehow, in some way that I don’t understand, none of us here in Remedy Drive understand, we can be part of that today.  And then for ten years, and then for twenty more years, and then for a hundred more years, and for a million more years.  We can be part of something huge, something permanent, something lasting.  Something more real than the American dream.  Bigger than suburban accomplishment.  I don’t know what it is.  I hear there’s golden streets but that just doesn’t cut it for me – but I know, whatever it is, is what I was made for.  And to get back to the design, get back to the purpose, finding it.  Or at least realizing, “I don’t have it together.”  If we can accomplish that in a concert, we’re pretty excited. 

 

PB:  What are your future plans?

 

Paul:  Every week we do this thing called New Video Mondays, which is kind of a way that we make our shows more exciting, because people come knowing what to expect.  We love to get to know our fans, we love to get to know the people that are in the crowd that night.  We also love to let them get to know us.  So we put up videos of stuff like, Dan got stuck in an elevator one time in Illinois.

 

Dan:  Three hours!

 

Paul:  He was in there for, like, three hours.  So we documented the whole event.

 

Dan:  Fire trucks came.  What else happened?  They pried it open with a very large wedge.

 

Paul:  And we were there to capture it.  And so, everyone, you can see it on Youtube.  But we do that every week and if there’s a rodeo right next to our show, we’ll take footage of it.  So that’s a way that people can get to know us and come to the show knowing what to expect.  But then there’s also the anticipation of what is going to happen?  What’s going to happen tonight?  Maybe you’ll be on the new Video Monday next week.  So that’s something we love to do.

 

Dave:  Maybe you’ll be a camera guy up on stage getting in the way that ends up getting tackled.

 

Paul:  Yeah, one guy brought a camera on stage and we broke his camera, on accident.  But that’s just kind of rock and roll.  Our equipment breaks all the time.  I don’t think we own really anything that hasn’t been broken at least one time in some way.  So that’s New Video Mondays.

 

Dave:  We’re going to be on tour down in Florida this September, so we want to see you guys at the show.  Check our website for where we’re going to be and the tour dates.  Our website is remedydrive.com or myspace.com/remedydrive.

 

PB: Thanks for hanging with Fire Escape Radio!

Taxes. Done.

That leaves us with death to deal with.

You’ve probably heard the saying – “The only things guaranteed in life are death and taxes.” I’m not so sure that statement is absolutely true, though. I’m guessing that with enough deductions, loopholes, and a “creative” accountant, you can avoid paying most, if not all, of your taxes. So, there’s no guarantee there.

 

Four friends were talking about death. One of them asked the other three, “When you are in your casket and people are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?” The first man said, “I’d like to hear them say that I was a fine physician in my time and a great family man.” The second fellow said, “I’d like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and a school teacher who made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow.” The third man replied, “I’d like to hear them say, ’Look, he’s moving!’”

 

You know, I think most of us can relate to that last fellow, but I can think of something far better I’d like someone to say if I were lying in a casket. I’d like to hear the words that Jesus spoke to Martha after her brother Lazarus had died. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

 

Believes.

 

Will never die.

 

The resurrection, death being defeated, is at the heart of Christianity.

 

We Christians absolutely believe that our faith makes a difference in this life. I think the best thing about Christianity is the hope it gives that physical death will not be the end, but thanks to Jesus we can and will experience eternal life. I’m thankful that when I do a funeral service for a person who believed, I can say to the grieving family, “Death has not won. Death was defeated on the cross and this is just the beginning of life eternal for this person in heaven.

 

Q: What is the date of death’s birth?

 

A: The moment Adam & Eve sinned.

 

Scripture tells us: “…by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world and death by sin.”.

 

Two Roman soldiers are guarding Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter morning. Each has a cup of coffee in his hand, and the sun is just coming over the horizon. One is encouraging the other. “Cheer up, it’s Sunday morning. Way I see it, we’ve got one more day of guarding the tomb. By Monday this whole thing will blow over.”

 

The world is amazed that millions of Christians still celebrate Easter with such joy. Like those guards at the tomb, the world assumes that “By Monday the whole thing will blow over.”

 

But it doesn’t.

 

You see, we have good reason to be joyful. God loves us, we are forgiven.

 

For believers in Christ, Easter means the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!

 

It means the promise of life after death because Jesus conquered the grave!

 

It means hope of a better life. It means joy, not sorrow.

 

The decisive event in human history was the resurrection of Christ, where death and evil were defeated

 

Hallelujah! Christ is risen.

Painful Relationships

People are afraid of being hurt by other people.

 The closer you get to people, the deeper those people can hurt you

 It is hard to deal with painful relationships.

 The passage of 2 Timothy 4:9-132 Timothy 4:9-13
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Be diligent to come to me soon, ¹⁰ for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. ¹¹ Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministering. ¹² But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹³ Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come, and the books, especially the parchments.

, contains all kinds of different names in it. To us these people are unknowns with strange sounding names, but we need to remember that behind every single name we read is a story. Some of these stories are about people who disappointed the apostle Paul.

Paul is writing from the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. Paul writes this letter sitting in a Roman prison cell awaiting his trail before the Roman government. This letter is Paul’s last one before his execution. Within months of writing this letter, Paul was led out to the third milestone marker on the Ostian Way in Rome and beheaded. The exact place of his execution is called Aquae Salviae, and on that location today stands a church called Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

 Paul was executed sometime during the year of 65 A.D.

Timothy receives this letter from Paul in the city of Ephesus. Timothy had been assigned to the Ephesian church to help them sort through some difficult problems. Yet in this final letter Paul knows that his life is nearing its end, so he asks Timothy to leave Ephesus and set sail for Rome as soon as possible, so they can be together one last time.

Demas, who we’ll talk about in more detail in a moment, had abandoned Paul and gone to Thessalonica. Thessalonica was the primary port city of Macedonia, just above Greece. We know that there was a thriving church in Thessalonica that Paul had started some years earlier. Most historians think Thessalonica was where Demas was from, that he had gone home.

Chrescens had gone to Galatia. He didn’t abandon Paul like Demas had, but apparently he was away on a ministry trip. Galatia was a region in central Asia Minor that was settled by Celtic tribes from ancient Gaul. Titus had gone to Dalmatia. Now when I first read about Dalmatia I thought that was the city where they got the idea for the movie 101 Dalmatians. But ancient Dalmatia was a mountainous region on the Eastern shore of the Adriatic sea. Apparently Titus had finished his work in the city of Crete and had gone on another ministry trip.

From Paul’s ministry team, only Luke remains with Paul. Luke of course was a medical doctor who accompanied Paul on his ministry trips. Luke wrote the gospel of Luke, in addition to the book of Acts. As we’ll learn a bit later, there were Christians from Rome also with Paul, but from his own ministry team, only Luke remained.

Many Bible scholars believe Tychicus was the guy who hand carried 2 Timothy from Rome to Ephesus, to hand deliver the letter to Timothy. Tychicus is mentioned in Acts, Ephesians and Colossians as one of Paul’s key leaders (Acts 20:4Acts 20:4
English: World English Bible - WEB
4 These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

; Eph 6:21Eph 6:21
English: World English Bible - WEB
21 But that you also may know my affairs, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things;

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; Col 4:7Col 4:7
English: World English Bible - WEB
7 All my affairs will be made known to you by Tychicus, the beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bondservant in the Lord.

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). Tychicus was probably Timothy’s replacement in Ephesus, so Timothy could set sail for Rome, picking up Mark along the way.

Finally, Paul wants Timothy to stop at the home of Carpus in Troas on the way to Rome. Troas was a city named after the ancient Greek city of Troy because the ruins of Troy were ten miles outside of town. Apparently Paul had left his writing materials and books in Troas with Carpus, and now that he’s stuck in prison he wants them with him. Perhaps the parchments refer to Paul’s copy of the Old Testament scriptures. The “cloak” refers to a thick circular poncho. As winter approaches, Paul needs to be kept warm in the drafty Roman prison .

So in the midst of his imprisonment, Paul needs companionship, his books, and something to keep him warm.

But I really want to focus in on Demas and Mark, because these were two people who had really disappointed Paul. Demas is probably short for the longer name Demetrius. Demas is mentioned as one of Paul’s key ministry people in his letters to Philemon and to the church in the city of Collosse (Philemon 24; Col 4:14Col 4:14
English: World English Bible - WEB
14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.

). But something happened, and Demas had abandoned Paul. He fell in love with this present world. He probably grew tired of the hardship and struggles that characterized Paul’s ministry team, the long days, the dangerous travel, the beatings and imprisonments. He grew weary of long journeys with not enough food, being away from his family for months at a time. He yearned for the comfort of home, a life free from the hardship and struggles of full time ministry. So he went home, home to Thessalonica, home where it was safe and warm. But he left Paul virtually alone. He’d disappointed his friend and mentor Paul. Clearly Paul writes with a broken heart when he thinks about Demas and his divided affections.

Mark had once had a very similar story. On Paul’s very first ministry trip years earlier Mark had been one of Paul’s first ministry team members. But according to the book of Acts, Mark abandoned Paul early on in the trip (Acts 13:13Acts 13:13
English: World English Bible - WEB
13 Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.

). When Paul and his key leader Barnabas wanted to go on a second ministry trip, Barnabas wanted to bring Mark again, but Paul refused. After all, Mark had disappointed them earlier, and Paul figured that he couldn’t count on Mark to be there when they needed him. But Mark was Barnabas’ cousin, so he wanted to give Mark a second chance. The disagreement between Paul and Barnabas got so intense that they parted company. So the book of Acts leaves us with the impression that Mark is a guy you can’t count on, a guy who disappoints you.

Yet here we find Paul asking Timothy to bring Mark to him because he views Mark as having something to offer in ministry. Obviously something’s happened in Mark’s life, and that something has so impressed Paul that he wants Mark by his side for his last days. And of course, eventually Mark would go on to write the gospel of Mark, which is the second book in the New Testament.

Both Demas and Mark were people who disappointed Paul. Yet Paul is able to respond with them with grace.

 As a pastor I constantly struggle with disappointing people. People have all kinds of expectations of what a pastor should do; some of those expectations are realistic, but many of them aren’t. Perhaps a phone call I forgot to make or a visit that I couldn’t get to. Often as my head hits the pillow at night I wonder who I let down that day.

Yet a deepened life with God helps us respond to people who disappoint us with grace. Rather than getting mad or bitter, we forgive.

 A deepened life with God gives us a reservoir of grace to draw from, so when people do disappoint us, we can show them grace.

Interview with The Devil Wears Prada

Interview with The Devil Wears Prada

PB: Chris and Dan, thanks for hanging with Fire Escape Radio! Tell us what you guys do in the band?

Chris: I’m Chris, I play guitar in The Devil Wears Prada.

Daniel: And I’m Daniel, I play drums.

PB: Tell me about your new album coming out next year.

Chris: We are writing for a new album. Everyone always says it’s going to be the same thing but just better. Me, personally, I want to do a lot more metal stuff. The last few albums had like some weird, experimentally, non-classifiable stuff, but I just want it heavier, more metal.

Daniel: We’re definitely going to try to make it a lot heavier. A lot of people are always telling us they’re afraid, they’re like, “oh, don’t go softer, don’t go softer, we love the heavy parts.” So those people definitely shouldn’t be disappointed. We’re still going to have, like, catchy singing and, like, it’s still going to be, like, catchy as a whole, but I think we’re going to try to definitely make it more, quote-on-quote, “brutal.”

Chris: That and just fast-paced, in-your-face, just like, I don’t know, just more. I just want to make sure we sound like we’re more certain on what we’re doing, what sound we’re going for. So hopefully that will be out in the first half of 09.

PB: What’s it like being on Warped Tour?

Daniel: Pretty much we wake up in the morning for Warped Tour and we find out when we’re playing because the schedule is completely random. Sometimes we’ll be playing at 11:15, sometimes we’ll be playing at 8. We find out when we’re doing a signing, we do a signing every day for everybody because we love our fans. And pretty much just hang out at the merch tent or just try to keep cool because it’s about 8 million degrees outside. So, yeah, pretty much wait around until we play, then we play our set, talk to kids and try to stay cool. Hang out.

Chris: Pretty much the same thing every day, but it’s fun.

PB: I know you are pressed for time so we need to catch up more later! Thanks for giving us part of your day!

Chris: No problem man. Thanks for playing our stuff and we love Fire Escape Radio!

Game of Life

A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strutted through the backyard, wearing his baseball cap and toting a ball and bat: “I’m the greatest hitter in the world,” he announced.

Then, he tossed the ball into the air, swung at it, and missed. “Strike One!” he yelled. Undaunted, he picked up the ball and said again, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!”

He tossed the ball into the air. When it came down he swung again and missed. “Strike Two!” he cried.

The boy then paused a moment to examine his bat and ball carefully. He spit on his hands and rubbed them together. He straightened his cap and said once more, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!”

Again he tossed the ball up in the air and swung at it. He missed. “Strike Three!” “Wow!” he exclaimed. “I’m the greatest pitcher in the world.

If you don’t have any dreams or goals in life, you may not get very far. You may not climb the ladder of success, whether it’s secular or sacred, spiritual or otherwise. This is why Paul said, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Everyone needs some of that “pressing on” spirit in their lives.

“There are three types of base players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.” Tommy Lasorda
 “Most ballgames are lost, not won.” Casey Stengel

 

How lost? By lack of genuine effort. Many things in life are lost just because we don’t do anything about them. Doing nothing will accomplish nothing.

Life teaches us things. Dreaming shows us things. For instance:

 

Truths Children Learn
- No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats.
- When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair.
- If your sister hits you, don’t hit her back. They always catch the second person.
- Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
- You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.
- Reading what people write on desks can teach you a lot.
- Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
- Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac.
- Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time.
- School lunches stick to the wall.
- You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
- Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
- The best place to be when you are sad is on Grandma’s lap.

 

Yet life seems to frustrate us and what kind of effect does that have?

A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly the light turned yellow. Just in front him was a crosswalk, so he did the right thing–he stopped at the crosswalk even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof and her horn. She screamed because she had missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window. She looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours, however, a policeman approached the cell door and opened it. He escorted her back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

As he handed her possessions to her, he said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.

“I noticed the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed you had stolen the car.”

Luke 6:46Luke 6:46
English: World English Bible - WEB
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say?

“Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?”

 

We have a couch and we need to listen to Him and do what He says.

Ty Cobb, considered by many as the greatest ballplayer of all time, played 3,033 games and for 12 years led the American League in batting average. For four years, he batted over 400. On his deathbed, July 17, 1961, at the age of 74 years he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. He said, “You tell the boys I’m sorry it was the last part of the ninth that I came to know Christ. I wish it had taken place in the first half of the first.”

I don’t know if this story is true or not, but the point is clear. There is time when the ball game will end. It will not matter whether we hit a single, a double, a triple or even a homerun. What will matter is what we did with Jesus.

Matthew 11:28Matthew 11:28
English: World English Bible - WEB
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

The game of life leaves us all very weary and burdened, but Jesus gives rest, release and reward. Believe in Him, trust Him, surrender to Him, obey Him. Comfort will come. Worries will cease. Joy will return. Life will never end.

Transcript of our interview with Steven Christian from Anberlin

Transcript of our interview with Steven Christian from Anberlin

PB: Steven, thanks for taking time to hang with Fire Escape Radio. Let’s talk about your music. What can you tell us about the song, “Dismantle Repair”?

Steven Christian: The song “Dismantle Repair” is off the CD called Cities. We recorded this entire CD up in Seattle, Washington, with a great producer named Aaron Sprinkle, who’s been working a lot on the first three Blueprints for the Black Market, Never Take Friendship Personal, of course the most recent one Cities. This is one of my favorite songs, talks a lot about how powerful words are and there’s a lot of meaning and depth behind the song and I think that’s why it’s definitely still one of my favorites to this day.

PB: The song “Readyfuels” stands out of being pivotal to the career of Anberlin. How did it help launch you guys?

SC: The song “Readyfuels” is off our first record, Blueprints for the Black Market. I think it’s kind of the song that kind of thrust us into the spotlight, got us signed on Tooth & Nail Records. We had accumulated about 25,000 plays in 3 months, and that got a lot of attention of a lot of indie labels and small record labels, and we decided it was best to go with Tooth & Nail. We made a great decision. We formed the band in 2003 and put out Blueprints for the Black Market in 2003 as well.

PB: “Paperthin Hymn” is a song with some personal meaning. Can you fill us in on the story?

SC: The song “Paperthin Hymn” comes off the record Never Take Friendship Personal, and it has a lot of meaning to us as the band. Joey Milligan, the primary songwriter, music-writer, his sister passed away at age 29 because of cancer, just a couple years ago, right around the time we were recording Never Take Friendship Personal. It really hurt the band a lot, obviously it hit Joey really hard. So this song is about telling those that you love how much that you actually care about them before it’s too late because you never know what tomorrow may hold or what is in store.

PB: What’s on your heart right now?

SC: I think one of the most powerful things in the world is the definition of religion, which is to love the widows and orphans. I think that’s the most powerful Scripture, that’s the one for me that really made me fall in love and really devote myself and my life. I think there’s a lot of times that we hear about causes and different things, but we’re not doers. I think that one thing is that we need to start becoming the change, we need to get ourselves motivated to go out there and make a difference in this world. You don’t have to go across the world, you don’t have to go to India or China. You can make a difference right in your own community, whether that’s with Habitat for Humanity, or whatever it might be. There’s some great websites, like dosomething.org and idealist.org where you can just type in your zip code and you can find places where you can get involved and you can love the widows and orphans. So just go out there and become the change that you want to see in the world.

PB: We look forward to what God is looking to do though Anberlin. Thanks for chilling with FER. Stay Brutal!